DRUG ABUSERS TOP 1 MILLION, SAYS MINISTRY

The number of registered drug addicts in China has risen by a third in
the past three years and reached 1.08 million in October, according to
the Ministry of Public Security.

It continued to increase and the situation was serious, said Vice
Minister Zhang Xinfeng.

The number of addicts had risen from 785,000 in 2005 and nearly 80
percent of drug abusers were heroin users, Zhang said.

More than 56,000 drug dealers were arrested and 460,000 drug smuggling
cases were dealt with in the first 10 months of 2008, Zhang said,
adding that Chinese police would continue to crack down on drug
trafficking.

The ministry planned to build 45 non-compulsory rehabilitation centers
across the country which in the past only had compulsory centers.

As some addicts found it hard to rejoin society, the government
planned to create a friendly environment in the new rehabilitation
centers, Zhang said.

A total of 220 million yuan (about US$32 million) from the central
government budget has been invested in building rehabilitation centers
since 2006. The 10 completed have admitted more than 1,600 drug users.

A woman from southwest China's Guizhou Province, who did not want to
be named, said she stopped using drugs after being in a non-compulsory
center in Sanya, a seaside city in southern Hainan Province, for two
years. She said she earns a salary of 800 yuan per month as well as
social insurance.